PORTLAND, Maine (AP) Maine’s top health official says the number of new cases of the coronavirus is growing and he’s warning about a “geometric surge.” Another health official is worried about outbreaks “coalescing into one big fire.”
Dr. Nirav Shah, the director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that with community transmission, cases can keep doubling rapidly.
“I am extremely, extremely concerned,” Shah told the Portland Press Herald.
Health officials are concerned about a pair of outbreaks, one in York County that’s linked to a wedding in Millinocket and another Oxford County that’s linked to a paper mill. Both are driving up Maine’s overall virus numbers.
Dr. Dora Anne Mills, chief health improvement officer at MaineHealth, the state’s largest hospital network, said that in York County a lot of people are testing positive for the virus from all age groups and people who are healthy and “not so healthy” who have no idea where they were infected.
“It’s not just that we have several outbreaks there, but that they are coalescing into one big fire,” Mills said.
On Friday, York County’s seven-day average of new cases hit an all-time high of 15.7 per day, nearly double the previous peak of 8.7 set on July 2. Case numbers are also climbing in Oxford County.
